Zach’s Electric Diablo

It arrived today:

It’s a new Zilla 2k from Cafe Electric.

Look at all the toys:

Like every new toy I get, the first task is to take a peek under the lid:

It’s quite beautiful. After taking a peek I quickly replaced the cover. I didn’t want to let any of the magic out that makes this such a great controller.

One other package arrived today; my vacuum pump from Metric Mind:

This will provide the -power- for my “power brakes”.

The tires and rims are on the chassis:

I spent some time figuring out where to put the motor and transmission mounts. The easiest way to do this was to attach the motor to the transmission and drop it into the chassis:

I got my new rims today, YEAH! I had to test fit them before putting tires on them. The rears fit perfectly:

However, the fronts are a little questionable. I mounted a rim on the passenger side

and if I turn the steering wheel all the way to the left, the inside edge of the rim comes dangerously close to the upper a-arm.

The bottom a-arm has a little more clearance:

Now this isn’t a totally realistic test as the front end was on jack-stands so the suspension is in the fully extended position (I don’t have tires yet). However, it seems a bit odd that it’s this tight. Is this something I should worry about? Should I modify my a-arms? Should I get different rims? Is there some adjustment I should be making?

Update: Moments after posting this question on kitcentral.com, someone pointed out that I didn’t have my rotors installed. Doh! That makes a big difference…

Last weekend my dad came out for a visit. He has a Diablo Roadster replica that he has almost finished, so his insight was very helpful. We test fit the axles which fit perfectly. We also designed and cut out the transmission spacer.

After some welding and a little powder coating, we have our spacer: